Mic Check: How One Journalist Toppled the NSA’s House Of Cards

Wednesday was a huge day for information on the NSA's surveillance programs: The Obama administration declassified a secret court ruling on the NSA, the Guardian published a new leak from Edward Snowden, and the Senate held a hearing on the NSA’s activities.

The biggest revelation from the declassified court order is that NSA agents can collect the phone data of a suspected national security threat and all the people the suspect called, for up to three degrees of separation. This means the NSA collects info on hundreds or thousands of people when investigating one suspect.

The newest leak from Edward Snowden reveals details of the NSA’s XKeyscore interface. XKeyscore is not another method the NSA uses to collect data; it is an interface for sorting through the data it already has. The slides the Guardian published show the U.S. conducts surveillance on 150 countries around the world.

Ever since President Obama said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been at his post “longer than he wanted,” econ wonks have fiercely debated who should take his place; Bernanke’s term expires on Jan. 31 of next year. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Janet Yellen, the vice chairwoman of the Fed’s board of governors, lead the field of contenders, but Summers has proved to be a controversial option. The Roosevelt Institute describes what’s at stake in picking the next Fed chair: Whoever takes over for Bernanke will be in charge of rebuilding the economy after the Great Recession.

Facebook notched a small win on Wednesday when the company’s stock matched its initial value of $38 a share; Facebook stock has had a rough go of it since the company’s messy IPO last year. Facebook’s stock jumped in response to strong second quarter earnings. The company is now almost worth $100 billion. Facebook’s recent success can be traced to its mobile prowess: Mobile ads now account for 40% of the company’s advertising revenue.

The MLB is nearing the end of its investigation into players who took performance-enhancing drugs from a Florida doping clinic, and an anonymous source told the Associated Press that Alex Rodriguez could face a lifetime ban from professional baseball. The source says A-Rod will be kicked out of the MLB unless he agrees not to fight a shorter sentence; up to 14 players could be suspended. Look for the MLB to issue sentences over the weekend.

Fox News says there’s nothing wrong with its Reza Aslan interview, in which a host asked the religion scholar and Muslim why he would write a book about Christianity. On Wednesday, Fox followed up on the controversy caused by the interview. Fox News guest Brent Bozell said Green was right to ask a formerly-Christian academic if his religious background influenced his research. The problem is, that’s not the question Green asked: “You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?” she said.